Today was the seventh day of camp.  Like always we left for camp at 7:35 am and set up as soon as we arrived.  Prior to the beginning of camp, Balint, one of the Hungarian leaders, gave our team a brief devotional from 1 Peter.  The morning game for today was Ninja: a athletic competition that requires balance, flexibility and fast reflexes.  After that, we taught our first English session before eating a snack and singing songs.  During large group time, after Katarina delivered a powerful testimony, Sam shared a message highlighting three of the most important trees in the Bible: The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the cross, and the tree of life.  Later, during game time, we switched it up and split up into eight teams for a series of relay races.  As soon as camp ended, we packed up and headed to the auditorium to receive our home-stay assignments.  I had the privilege of visiting the home of Fanni, one of the students in my English class.

Our home stay was a blast!  After a 25 minute drive to a small village, Christine, Dave, Dorothy, and I were warmly received by Fanni, her parents, and her two younger siblings.  While Fanni’s father worked diligently to stoke the fire for dinner, the rest of us enjoyed a diverse selection of fruits, vegetables, breads, and cheeses.  Unfortunately, it started pouring while we were trying to cook supper.  Nonetheless, the traditional Hungarian stew for dinner and pastries for dessert were delicious.  During our time there Christine and I also got a chance to see Fanni’s thoroughly annotated Bible.  This was a testament to our ongoing work in Hungary.  Our team’s mission is not only to evangelize to non-believers, but also to strengthen the faith of students, like Fanni, who have accepted Christ at camp over the past few years.

God has taught me a plethora of things on the trip so far, but one lesson stands out in particular.  After realizing all the students in our class already knew our vocab words, being asked to play the cajon (box-shaped drum) one day before camp started, persevering through our hotels snail paced wifi, and being crammed together in humid buses, God has taught me the necessity of flexibility.  As Philippians 4:12-13 says, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”  These verses have been a powerful reminder that even though we mess up, God doesn’t.  Even if something doesn’t go as planned, it’s all part of God’s plan.  Even if things seem out of control, God is ultimately in control.  Everything that happens is by his design and it is our responsibility to depend on him through it all.